Last night, in Manhattan's luxurious and conveniently located Roosevelt Hotel, Ziff-Davis Media held a warm-up party for its not-entirely-necessary September trade show DigitalLife. But the show's timing, on the heels of the more successful Pepcom Digital Experience at the end of June, was poor, because it meant little or no news, and mostly stale hands-on opportunities. So why hold this, and why go?

Because aside from the finger food and the occasional alcoholic beverage, I look forward to meeting in person with companies that I usually deal with via impersonal email. Face time is critical for this business. A good opportunity to meet, yes, even if it was a little too close for comfort. The show's layout was tight: Reporters (and people who claim to be reporters even though they are not) were herded like water buffalo into a tight rectangular track where all of the money-paying exhibitors had set up shop. If you stopped to talk to someone at any of the tables, you risked being trampled. Fix that, Ziff, and we're solid.